


Locked between the two of them

by Springheeledjack



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Awkward First Times, Comedy, Crack, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Kissing, Making Out, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rayllum, Secret Relationship, Sex, Sharing a Bed, Soren is a himbo, They both do that a lot, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, and the sex is between two consenting teenagers and is legal in Canada, but it's not really described, it's not descriptive, janaya - Freeform, not smut though, you see it happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24495568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springheeledjack/pseuds/Springheeledjack
Summary: “The Dragon Queen must never know!”When climbing up the Storm Spire, Rayla and Callum had joked about keeping their relationship a secret. A forbidden romance for the ages, locked between just the two of them.They hadn’t expected it to, you know…Actually happen.Or how Callum and Rayla accidentally start a secret relationship, purposely continue keeping it a secret, and how everyone happens to find out, with disastrous results.
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 53
Kudos: 164





	1. Soren makes apple breadwich

**Author's Note:**

> So I have started my second fic, one which is less serious (Hopefully) shorter, and in my opinion way easier to write. I'm writing this because I want to, and because I'll probably need more practice if I ever want to make a huge fic in the future? and what Better way to practice than a crack comedy? I hope you enjoy this! I did! Please note, I am halfway winging this, so if this becomes a convoluted mess halfway through, my brain and it's inability to think about the future is at fault.

The conversation comes up as they were hiking up the storm spire. Ezran, a couple meters ahead of them, was entirely engrossed in talking with Zym.

“So… are we gonna tell the Dragon Queen about, you know…?” Callum, trailing a bit behind Rayla, was already a bit out of breath as he asked the question. Athletics had never been his fortitude, and years of being a pampered (step)prince who regularly skimped out on sword practice were now showing their effect.

Rayla, who was very proud of her 5 minute Katolis mile (1.61 Xadian kilometers) silently wondered if she would have to carry her boyfriend up to the top. Did humans like to be carried? Did _princes_ like to be carried? Did human prince _boyfriends_ like to be carried?

Turning around, Rayla glanced at Callum, who had stopped for a short break, and was now on his knees panting. Forehead already wet, sweat dripped down his cheek, then to his chin, next to his neck, before finally sliding down to his-

Yeah, he’d probably like being carried.

“About what?” Asked Rayla, who was definitely blushing due to exhaustion, and nothing else.

“You know…” he silently pointed between them, “ You… Me… What we are? How we…” Glancing to the ground, it was Callum’s turn to blush, “... _smooch.”_

Staring at Callum’s blushing face, Rayla felt like it was very hard _not_ to smooch the prince at this moment.

Grabbing Callum’s hand, Rayla pulled him closer, until he was in T.S.D (Tactical Smooching Distance).

“I don’t think it’s really gonna come up,” Rayla said, glancing down at Calum’s lips. She sure hoped he noticed her noticing his noticeable lips.

Callum, moving into I.S.D (Imminent Smooching Distance), noticed.

“Oh,” Callum said, hands snaking down her back, “so this is a forbidden love. Two star-crossed lovers! In a romance for the ages, locked between the two of us.” Callum’s hands were now in Rayla’s hair, stroking the back of her head.

Rayla, who was now in the _**Smooch Zone**_ , pressed their bodies together, letting the heat seep between them.

“The Dragon Queen must never know…”

Her voice barely a whisper, Rayla could feel his breath on hers, and judging by how he pulled her tighter every time she let out a short, shallow, breath, he could too.

“The world just isn’t ready...” Callum, who was seconds away from getting smooched, moved to close the distance, “ ...for what we have.”

Ezran, who was in an enticing conversation with Zym about what exactly a sandwich was, decided that this was the perfect time to interrupt.

“Hey guys! Are you two gonna catch up?”

Ezran turned around to see Callum sprawled on the floor, with a panting Rayla a few meters away from him.

“Uhh… Callum fell down!” Rayla yelled back, “ You go on without us, we’ll be up in a minute!”

Ezran looked between Callum, who was groaning on the ground, and Rayla, whose face was in an unnaturally innocent smile, before shrugging.

“Yeah, that sounds like Callum.” Turning around, Ezran continued his conversation about the dictionary definition of a Sandwich, and walked ahead.

“Do you think if I keep groaning into the ground, it’ll swallow me up and I’ll connect to the earth arcanum?” Callum, at this point, decided life would be better as a rock rather than a prince/mage/artist.

Crouching down besides him, Rayla swept a hand through his hair, “No, but you’re welcome to try.” 

Raising his head, Callum pressed a soft kiss to Rayla’s palm, and an equally soft smile came upon Rayla’s face.

Helping Callum up to his feet, Rayla held his hand as they walked towards the top.

“C’mon dumb prince, we got a queen to meet.”

And hand in hand, they hiked up the Storm Spire.

…

“ _Ventus Spiralis!”_

Air re-entering her lungs in a rush, Rayla officially added mountains to the list of places she hated the most.

Right below large bodies of water, and right above inconspicuous caves where dumb princes entered fever dreams, it took the steady spot of number five on her list. 

Numbers three, two, and one were places she’d rather not think about.

Taking a look around, Rayla found out that she could not see.

_Weird, I usually have eyes._

“Rayla, come on, you gotta wake up! Rayla please! Open your eyes!”

Ah, that was the problem.

“H-Hey dumb prince,” Rayla croaked out. Wow! Callum’s face was really close! And pretty. It looked very pretty and cute and handsome and worried, did she say how worried it looked? His face was very worried. But the worry looked cute, so overall his face looked cute. And worried.

Her brain felt weird.

Worry slowly fading away to assuredness, (which was even cuter!) Callum let out a soft sigh he’d been holding in.

“You’re ok…” moving in, Callum was in prime _**Smooch Zone**_ when suddenly-

“Rayla! You’re ok!”

Her brain, now having enough oxygen to realize she’d been cockblocked by Ezran twice in 30 minutes, was feeling pretty peeved.

Fortunately, her brain, not having enough oxygen to make good decisions, decided it was a good idea to kiss Callum while Ezran was tightly hugging her shoulder.

Normally, Ezran would notice his brother and his sister figure snogging while he was less than a foot away. However, Ezran was 10, and had almost lost his sister figure, so in the grand scheme of things, he could be excused for missing out on a few important details. 

Thinking back on it, Ezran thought that maybe if he had noticed them, noticed their kiss, things could have been a lot simpler. Maybe things would have turned out for the better?

However, Ezran wasn’t one to play with fate, and all in all, Callum’s and Rayla’s relationship reveal had only caused one fire. When compared to their pregnancy reveal, which had caused a total of five fires, three attempts of murder, and one giant Xadian freestyle dance party outside of the castle gates, it was honestly pretty tame. 

Looking back, king Ezran could say that everything turned out A-OK.

…

Honestly? They had planned to tell Ezran the first chance they got. They hadn’t meant to keep it a secret from him. However, the right time never truly popped up.

First it had been Soren, who had decided to come to the Storm Spire to warn them about the oncoming invading army.

And Callum was honestly grateful for that! 

However, couldn’t he have just arrived like, I don’t know, an hour later? Heck, even 15 minutes would do. Just enough time to sit Ezran down and say _Hey! How’s it going? I’m in a relationship with Rayla. We’ve smooched. That is all. Bye._ Before going back to Rayla and smooching her some more.

But, Soren came, and along with him the news of war. Suddenly, everyone became too busy.

He thought that maybe he could tell Ezran when there was a lull in activity, but then Rayla decided to tell everyone to leave her and run, while she died fighting an entire army by herself, and honestly? Callum was sick of losing people he cared about. So _maybe_ he got a teeny weeny bit upset, and _maybe_ they had a fight and _maybe_ he broke a precious amulet and performed moon magic he’d seen once before, and _maybe_ , just _maybe,_ they made up and smooched for an hour straight, because hey, they were stressed, Rayla was pretty, he was in love with Rayla and-

Right, back on topic

Telling Ezran while the huge battle took place honestly seemed like a bad idea. Ezran was young. He was easily shocked. Telling him that he’d been smooching their travel companion for the past week seemed like a bad tactical play in the middle of a life and death battle. For all he knew, Ezran could have blanked out in shock, forgotten how to speak to animals, and then fly a dragon straight into the side of the mountain, which would have ended in bruise for the dragon, and at least a concussion for Ezran.

So, case in point, bad idea.

And honestly after the whole Rayla almost sacrificing herself to save Zym, Callum almost sacrificing himself to save Rayla, and the **Flying Confession** ®, Callum and Rayla had a long talk about the value of life and how _please don’t sacrifice yourself, I care about you too much_ applied to the both of them. And after that, a two hour long session of _**Intense Smooching**_ ft. wing arms took place and honestly? No one was in the mood to explain how Rayllum (which is what Callum had decided to call their relationship) happened, nor why Callum suddenly had wings and had no idea how to get rid of them.

And telling everyone that they were dating seemed kinda rude when Queen Zubeia was waking up.

_Hey Queen Zubeia! I know you’ve just woken up from a coma because you were so sad that my dad killed your husband, but that doesn’t matter! I’ve been dating Rayla for 10 days! I see that as a bigger achievement than your life._

So yeah, no go in front of the queen.

And afterwards, everyone’s been so busy. With two generals, two interpreters, one dragon queen and her son, two human rulers, a master tracker, a wise councillor, a baker(why was he here?) a skywing master, countless human and Xadian soldiers, AND Bait, it was hard to find some time alone and tell Ezran, _We’re dating. Deal with it._

Before they knew it, two weeks had passed, and no one had found out about their relationship. 

It’s not like they’re trying to hide it. They’re really close! They hold hands! They smooch each other on the cheek! Heck, they even sleep in the same room! 

_Nothing has happened in that room besides sleeping._

_Yet._

But each time a human soldier sees them exit their bedroom together, they think _Wow! Elves sure are weird!_ and when a Xadian soldier sees them exit a broom closet, hair slightly disheveled, they think _Woah! Those humans sure are friendly!_ And nothing happens. 

It’s when they’re snuggling in their now shared bed that Rayla brings it up.

“Callum?”

“Yeah?” said Callum, whose face is nestled deep into her neck.

“Do you think anyone’s figured out we’re, you know, together?” she said, hands tracing small runes on his back.

“Logically, someone would have. We haven’t been exactly… subtle.”

“Yup,” Rayla recalled she and Callum exiting their room after a long night of _**Intense Smooching**_ , just as a long line of Xadian and human soldiers decided it would be a good time to jog right by their door. They merely waved as they passed on by, while Rayla and Callum decided another hour of sleeping in couldn’t hurt.

“But do you want my opinion?”

“Of course I do, silly.”

“No one knows jack shit.”

Rayla couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping her lips. Callum swearing, which he didn’t do that often, would always be hilarious to her, for the simple fact he always swore with such solemnity and seriousness. 

Just another thing to add onto the long list of what she loved about him.

“I mean seriously! You’d think that two people sleeping in the same bedroom would mean that they’d be together, but _noooooooo_ , everyone thinks that we’re just friends!”

Rayla was full on snort laughing at this point, clutching her belly as Callum sits up in bed and continued his rant.

“Why can’t people just see what’s in front of their face? We walked around the Storm Spire holding hands! Queen Zubeia saw us and said, _it’s nice to see an elf and a human being such good friends_. It's like I’m holding up a sign that says, _I love the most beautiful elf in the world_ , and no ones looking!”

“Maybe-” Rayla was at the end of her laugh, a blush now adorning her face, “Maybe they just can’t see us together?”

Callum visibly deflated at her words, “Oh…”

“Which is pretty stupid in my opinion.”

“Oh?” Rayla was looking him in the eyes, love clearly strewn upon her face. Cupping his face in her hands, she brought him in for a soft kiss.

“You are the most beautiful, kind, and lovely person I’ve ever met in my life. Anyone who can’t see that is a dummy.” Her mouth was pressed up against his, so her words were muffled, but Callum understood them very clearly.

Pressing a kiss to Rayla’s collarbone, Callum sighed.

“I just wish everyone could see who we are. When are people going to realize I love you?”

Pressing a kiss to Callum’s head, Rayla pulled him close.

“Yes when…”

_When…_

_When…_

_When..._

“Callum, I have a stupid Idea.”

“How,” Callum raised his head to meet Rayla’s eyes, “stupid are we talking about here?”

“Remember when you threw a primal stone at me?”

“Alright, go for it.”

“What if we made… a competition.”

An eyebrow was raised at the statement, “A competition?”

Rayla continued, despite the scrutiny, “Realistically, we can’t keep this relationship a secret forever. Someone is going to find out. But…”

“But?” Rayla now had Callum’s full attention.

She grinned.

_Perfect._

“How long, can this go on, without someone catching on?”

“I’m not quite sure I’m following.” A confused look now adorned Callum’s face.

A _cute,_ confused look.

“Let’s have a competition to see who can hide our relationship the longest. Loser’s whoever gets found out first.”

Callum blanched at this, “Isn’t that the opposite of what we’re trying to do?”

“Think of it this way,” Callum could see the fire of competition in her eyes. He had already lost this argument, “it’s like a game of chicken. We try our hardest to see what the limit is. How far can we go before someone realizes _hey, maybe they like each other_ and when someone finally does ask, we can say _honhon you fewl, you absolute eediot, we’ve been dating zee entire time!”_

Rayla’s snobby sunfire accent was far too over the top to be considered realistic, but it got her point across perfectly. What she was saying was perfectly clear to him.

_I am going to love you, until everyone realizes it._

And Callum suddenly feels the love for his girlfriend increase tenfold.

Pressing a quick kiss to Rayla, Callum’s arms around her tighten.

“I love you.” He spoke into her collarbone.

“Oh?”

“And that’s a yes. On the competition.”

“Great!” The fires of challenge were on full heat in Rayla’s eyes, and in his head, Callum had already conceded defeat.

“Winner gets a victory kiss!”

“Ray, you can always smooch me.”

“But Cal!” Rayla’s eyes could now be considered a class G forest fire.

Callum found them hot.

“This’ll be a _victory_ kiss!”

“Uh huh,”

“This is different! It’s a kiss earned by hard work and competition!”

“Sure,” pulling her face down Callum pulled her in for a searing kiss.

And as they slept in each others arms, they dreamt of heat, kisses, and each other.

…

And so the competition began, and Callum and Rayla went right at it.

“Competition,” Callum said, as he smooched Rayla behind aunt Amaya’s back, while she was busy beating a loaf of bread to death.

“Competition!” Said Rayla, as she kissed him while Barius the baker and general Janai are preoccupied trying to stop Amaya from murdering all the bread.

And this continues.

In a crowded Storm Spire, inhabited by two generals, two interpreters, one dragon queen and her son, two human rulers, a master tracker, a wise councillor, a baker(why was he still here?) a skywing master, countless human and Xadian soldiers, _**AND**_ Bait.

This continues.

_**For a whole fucking month.** _

Honestly, Callum should be more upset. However, as he made out with his girlfriend of a month and ten days in a small broom closet, he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

Callum’s hands were in her hair, messy and frazzled, while her own were groping his body, searching for every purchase she could find, every hold she could use to get further into this kiss which was _leavingherbreathlessshesgottabreath-_

Separating with a gasp, Rayla’s hands moved down to his butt, and gave it a firm squeeze. Pressing their foreheads together, they reveled in this quiet, peaceful moment. Away from the chaos of the spire, and everyone who inhabited it.

Then, the door opened, and in walked Soren.

He’s munching on an apple, scanning the room for something, when his eyes landed on them. They stoped for a moment, before continuing on with his search. They finally landed on a broom, situated right next to Rayla.

“Hey,” Soren said, mouth full of apple, “mind passing me the broom?”

Rayla, whose hands were at this point still on Callum’s derriere, moved, picked up the broom, and silently handed it to Soren.

“Thanks,”

And Soren left, closing the closet door, all the while eating his apple.

Ten seconds passed in complete silence. Rayla, slowly backing up to the wall, pressed her face into her hands, and slid down.

“This is horrible” Rayla moaned, bringing her knees up to her chest.

“Hey, it's going to be alright…” Callum went to sit beside her, an arm wrapping around her shoulder.

“How are we going to know who won?”

A beat passes.

“What,”

Looking up at Callum, teary eyed, Rayla let out a soft sniffle. “We both got found out at the same time! How do we know who won?”

Staying silent, Callum let Rayla cry into his neck.

Sometimes, you don’t understand your loved one.

That’s ok.

We don’t have to understand everything about each other.

We just gotta be there to support them.

And as Rayla sobbed into Callum’s neck, and he stroked her head, Rayla knew.

Even if they didn’t know who won the competition.

Everything would turn out just fine.

…

The next day, Callum and Rayla woke up an hour later than usual. They needed the extra time to prepare themselves for their confrontation with Soren.

And for smooches.

It was mostly for the smooches.

Walking in the communal kitchen, they saw Soren sitting at a table, eating a bread sandwich, and reading a book titled “ _How to read vol. 2: Rhymes”_

“Hey Soren!” Callum said, holding two cups of tea. He went and sat opposite of him, “I see you’ve moved on to volume two”

“Actually,” Soren said, closing the book, “I’m on volume three now. I just need some refresher on rhymes for my poetry.” 

Soren’s face showed pride, having conquered Katolis’s three hardest english workbooks designed for six years old.

“That’s great buddy! You’ll be on the advanced series in no time.” Callum said this without a hint of sarcasm, feeling genuinely proud that his friend was taking his education so seriously.

“Yeah! Just you wait! Soren the poetist is gonna take Katolis by storm once he gets back!”

Rayla made a note to herself, deciding that her and Callum’s future kids would be taught in Xadia.

_In the silvergrove._

Rayla quickly grabbed her tea from Callum’s hands, and downed it.

It’s jasmine.

An awkward silence fills the kitchen. At least it seemed awkward for Rayla and Callum. Soren was too engrossed in his book to notice the thick tension in the air.

Rayla coughed.

Soren looked up.

Not expecting to actually get his attention, Rayla quickly shot a glance to Callum, and tried talking with her eyes.

_Help!_

Callum understood her completely. 

_I gotcha._

“Soooo, Soren,” Callum said in what he thought was a casual tone, “about what you saw yesterday…”

Rayla stole Callum’s cup of tea. She needed it more than he did.

“Oh, don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me! Wink!” Soren verbally said the word wink, while closing both of his eyes.

“I-It is?” Rayla said, nursing Callum’s cup of earl gray tea.

“Yeah! To be honest…” Soren looked around conspicuously, “I sometimes use it to.”

“O-Oh,” Callum made a mental note to never use that closet again. And to take a nice, long, shower.

Preferably with Rayla.

“Yeah, I usually go there with Bait, but sometimes I spend time there with Zym too!”

Callum’s face froze in a combination of fear and confusion for a full five seconds, before he could find his words.

“What,”

“Yeah! Sometimes you just need a little alone time, you feel me? Someplace where you can relax, let loose, have fun, away from everyone’s prying eyes. Bait’s a really good companion, did you know that?” He leaned back in his chair and took a bite out of his bread sandwich, crumbs falling down onto his armor.

Before Callum could complete his fulminis rune, Rayla gently took a hold of his arms, stopping him from committing homicide.

“Soren,” she said, her tone flat and serious, “what were you doing in that closet?”

“Big feeling time, of course! Ez introduced it to me, it really helped me deal with… you know.”

They know.

“At first I talked to Ez himself, but he’s gotten really busy lately. Bait’s pretty good as well, but he has a hard time letting stuff out. Really lights up the place though!”

Callum visibly relaxed, while Rayla was just happy that Soren didn’t name Ezran as one of his partners for big feelings time at the start.

Rayla’s not sure she could’ve stopped Callum if that was the case. She’s not sure she would’ve either.

“Zym’s really great too, he just has so much pent up energy he needs to let out!”

“T-That’s great, buddy!” Callum was just glad that he didn’t have to hide a body anytime soon.

“Yeah, I can understand why you guys would choose the closet as your big feelings time place,” Soren said, opening his book once again, “It’s really a great spot to vent to your friends.”

And all of a sudden it hit them.

They exchanged looks.

Soren doesn’t know..

_**Soren doesn’t know.** _

Soren saw Rayla’s hands, on Callum’s _**ASS,**_ and he still doesn’t know. 

A smile spreads across Rayla’s face.

It was not innocent at all. 

…

The next time they saw Soren, Callum’s hands were all over Rayla’s horns.

She’s laying on him, back pressed to his front, with her head laid on his chest. Callum’s fingers smoothly ran down her horns, and Rayla’s face eased up with each stroke.

Now to anyone who isn’t familiar with elf culture, this might not seem like a big deal.

However, elves value their horn. Once it’s damaged, it doesn’t grow back. It is their most precious part, and touching them is usually reserved for married couples.

Rayla knows this.

Callum knows this.

They both choose to ignore what this says about their relationship.

Soren, however, takes one glance at what they’re doing, and throws thousands of years of tradition out the window.

“Cool! Can I get a turn?”

Rayla quickly jerked her head up in panic.

“No!” all the while, Callum kept stroking her horns, slowly soothing her back to a calm state.

“Aww, how come?”

“Because…” Rayla fished for an excuse for a few seconds, before she replied, “it’s rude.”

“But,” Soren pointed to Callum, who had begun rubbing the tips of her horns, “Callum’s doing it.”

“Yeah,” Callum began to scratch at the base of her horns, and she let out a soft moan. “Callum’s mean,” Callum tapped the sides of her horn and she let out another, “and rude.”

Callum stopped for a second, gently flicked the back of her head, and continued on with the horn rubbing.

Rayla blew a raspberry at him in retaliation.

He still continued to rub.

Soren, looking down on Callum, showed a face of disappointment.

“For shame Callum. For shame” 

And as if he was scolding an unruly child, Soren tutted his fingers, and left the room.

“Yeah,” Callum stared lovingly into Rayla’s eyes, “for shame.”

…

It was 6 in the morning, and Rayla was about to head off to help form the new dragonguards when she got a devilish idea.

Walking up to Callum in full view of Soren, she quickly planted a kiss on his lips, before leaving the kitchen.

Coincidentally, _coincidentally,_ she also left Callum to deal with the fallout of what just happened.

“Bro, what was that? Rayla just kissed you on your lips.” Soren, who had decided to combine apples and a bread sandwich, was on the brink of discovering real sandwiches before he got distracted by Rayla’s smooch.

“Y-Yeah, elves do that! Kiss each other on the lips! all the time!” Callum, blushing furiously, tried to keep his voice even.

It did not work.

Luckily, Soren trusted Callum, and knew he would not lie to him unless there was a very good reason. Therefore, he chose to believe Callum’s flimsy lie.

“Huh, those elves sure are weird, man. Super friendly though!”

“Y-Yeah, super friendly…”

Callum decided that he, too, would be super “friendly” to Rayla tonight.

(They made out for three hours before falling asleep on each other.)

(again)

…

It was once again 6 am, and Callum, Rayla, were trying Soren’s new invention, apple bread sandwiches. Apple Breadwiches.

“These are… surprisingly good.” said Rayla, who had already finished hers, and was now eating half of Callum’s.

“Hey Soren! Have you ever thought of becoming a cook?” Callum’s list of Soren’s abilities was growing each day. From child level literature, to decent dining, one day, Soren would be a force to be reckoned with.

“It’ll be my backup plan if poetry doesn’t work out” Soren said, while he cleaned up the dishes. Why he would need dishes to create Apple breadwiches, no one knew.

“But of course, poetry will work out for me, for I am Soren! Great poetus of Katolis. Which reminds me,” Soren checked outside, and noticed the sun rising higher and higher into the sky. ”I need to help General Amaya take stock of our supplies for the trip back.”

Walking up to Callum, Soren pecked him on the lips, before moving to Rayla and doing the same.

“I’ll see you guys later!”

And Soren left.

There was silence for a good minute, neither Callum nor Rayla willing to look each other in the eye.

“Callum?” Rayla said, staring at her unfinished apple breadwich.

“Yes Rayla?” Callum was also looking at the unfinished apple breadwich.

“Soren just kissed you”

“I know”

“Then he kissed me”

“I know”

Looking up at Callum, Rayla’s face was confused and scared.

“ _Why_?”

“I may have told him that elves kiss each. On the lips. All the time”

“Oh”

“Yeah”

“Think that’ll have any lasting consequences?”

...

Out near the storage room, Ibis, Janai, and countless other Xadian soldiers were asking king Ezran if humans kissed each other on the lips.

“Sure they do! Only if they love each other though”

In the eyes of Xadia, Soren had become a slut.

…

“Probably not,” Callum replied.

…

“Soooo,” said Callum, clad in his pyjamas, on top of his and Rayla’s bed. 

“Soooo,” said Rayla, who was also clad in her pyjamas, and also on top of her and Callum’s bed. 

Now, you might be wondering, what would two hot blooded teenagers be doing in loose clothing, on a bed they shared for the past month or so?

That was a rhetorical question. They were going to have sex.

Now you might wonder, what brought this on?

Well, for one, they’ve been dating each other for around two months now. 

They’ve had… urges. 

And while they’ve both seen each other naked at some point, nothing much had exactly come from the nakedness.

To add to that, they’ve been sleeping in the same bed for nearly as long as they’ve been dating. They’ve cuddled.Spooned. Smooched. Made out.

It’s kinda hard to not feel _something_ , when there’s no space between them.

And while they have snuggled up to each other, have kissed, and have groped, there’s only so much rustling and kissing and pressing you can do to each other with clothes on before you want more.

And they wanted more.

Thing was, they didn’t know how to start it.

They were at an impasse, like two bulls facing off, neither budging, hoping that the other would make the first move.

And the bull that moved first happened to be Callum.

“How are you?”

It was a flimsy move, but it was a move nonetheless, and it got the ball rolling. Sooner or later, the bulls would meet up in the middle, and they would have sex.

Hopefully.

“I-I’m good,”

As you can see, the two bulls awkwardly moved towards each other, at breakneck speeds.

“T-That’s good,”

Truly, an intense sight.

“Good!”

Simply fascinating.

“Good!”

“Good!” they both said at the same time, their vocabulary reduced to one word.

Deciding that the surefire way to get into each other's pants was to not make eye contact, Callum and Rayla decided to look at every object in the room besides each other.

_That table is really stable._

_Have we always had a mirror?_

_Wow… a ceiling._

Rayla took note of the bed. It was a very soft and plush bed. It had obviously been designed for one person, meaning she and Callum had to sit close to each other to fit on it. What material was it made of? What frame did it use? Would the frame creak? Would it make noise? Would it-

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Rayla was pulled out of her thoughts by Callum’s voice.

“I mean, we have all the time in the world, we shouldn’t rush it. We can do this another time if you’d like.”

An earlier version of Rayla might have become insecure at his words. 

_Does he not want to do this? Does he not want me?_

However, this was Rayla now. She knew better. She was smart, and fast, and beautiful, and she knew Callum loved her.

Which was why his statement only brought her confusion.

_Is the mood wrong? Is he not feeling it? Is he sick?_

“I mean, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

And all at once, it was clear.

_He doesn’t think I want him._

And faced with that problem, Rayla did what she did best.

She charged in head first.

Taking his face into her hands, she pressed her lips to his and kissed. Tongue met tongue, and soon, they were lost in each other. 

When Rayla resurfaced, she was on top of him, and Callum, breathless, had a nice pink flush adorning his face. 

Rayla was sure she looked exactly the same.

“I’d like to make one thing clear Callum,”

Slowly, she trailed her hands down his chest, fingering the buttons.

“I am attracted to you,”

One by one, the buttons came off, before all that was left was bare skin.

“And I love you,”

Pressing her mouth to his stomach, she began trailing kisses upwards, before stopping at his mouth.

Face’s inches apart, their breaths felt warm on each other's skin.

“And I,” pressing her forehead to his, she closed her eyes.

“Want you.”

And with that, the floodgates were open, the race had started, and the bulls had met in the middle.

Looking back on the affair, both Callum and Rayla agreed that their first time was sloppy, clumsy, and sub par.

They wouldn’t change it one bit.

Well, maybe just one bit…

Soren was raised in a house with no privacy. His dad would walk into his room unnoticed, and his sister would often barge in without his permission. Giving his upbringing, knocking was a foreign concept to Soren. 

“Hey do you guys have any toothpaste? Bait ate all of mine...” Soren trailed off, looking at the spectacle in front of him.

If we’re going by the bull analogy, Soren was the bullfighter who had accidentally stumbled upon two bulls having sex, and is starting to wonder why two bulls are having sex. Are they gay bulls? Are the bulls just really close friends? Is this all just the bullfighter’s imagination?

All these thoughts and more filtered through his head as he gazed upon their lying forms.

Their one solace in this whole situation was that Callum and Rayla had decided to do _the do_ underneath a blanket. The one caveat with that was that their heads were sticking out, and you could clearly see that Rayla was on top of Callum. What she was doing there was all up to Soren’s imagination. 

_Maybe,_ Rayla thought, _Maybe he won’t realize it._

Callum would have thought the same thing too, but his mind was currently preoccupied.

_Dontcumdontcumdontcum._

“H-Hey Soren…” Rayla said, not having the mental fortitude, nor the flexibility to meet his face. 

“What ya up to?”

Callum had at this point ascended, relinquishing all his worldly desires.

_Everything is impermanent and changing, impermanence leads to suffering, there is no self._

Soren took a good long look at the scene in front of him.He looked At the back of Rayla’s head, and at how Callum looked like he just found inner peace, and came to one conclusion.

“Waaaait” He said, pointing a finger between the two of them. “Are you two a thing?”

 _This is it._ Rayla thought _this is how everyone finds out._ She’d never be able to look Ezran in his face again.

However, deep inside his mind, as he was attaining enlightenment, Callum felt distress, and was faced with a crossroad.

Let Rayla go, and obtain eternal peace.

Or help Rayla, and be locked out of nirvana forever.

 _Well,_ Callum thought, _when you say it like that, the answer’s obvious._

So, Callum came back, took a good look at the situation, and knew what he had to do. 

“No. We are not”

Callum told the best lie he had ever told in his entire life. 

His face was calm, there was no hitch in his voice, he spoke with clear concise words, and he maintained casual eye contact. All while cumming in his girlfriend.

And somehow. 

_**Soren fucking bought it.** _

“Oh, Ok. Do you have any toothpaste?”

“There’s some in the washroom.”

Soren quickly jogged over to their washroom, while Rayla was having an existential crisis. Is this real? Am I dreaming? Did I really die at the top of the spire, and is this hell?

“I can’t find any!”

“Check the cupboard!”

No, this was real. Only reality could be this cruel.

“Thanks man!” and with a small wave, Soren left, leaving the couple alone.

No one said anything for a while. No one dared to _look_ at each other for a while.

It took five minutes for Rayla to remove herself, and lay next to Callum. Giving him a quick kiss to the lips, she turned off the lights, and snuggled close to him.

“Goodnight Cal,”

“Goodnight Ray,”

And somehow, their dreams were filled with love, each other, and two gay bulls having sex while a bull fighter watched them.

…

When Rayla woke up, half of her hoped that last night was just a bad dream, that she and Callum kissed each other goodnight, went to sleep, and no one bothered them.

One look at her neck crushed those dreams.

“Yeah, there’s no covering that up.” Callum said, wincing at the smattering of bruises around her neck.

“Well, you have them too,” she pointed to the many lovebites that adorned his neck. Moving away from the mirror, she sat down on their bed, “They might even be worse than mine. Do I really bite that much?”

“It’s ok,” Callum said, touching the various bite marks on his neck, “I like them.”

“Oh,”

“Y-Yeah,” They were both red at this point. A comfortable silence filled the air. Moving to sit next to her, Callum wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him.

They relished in each others silent company for five minutes, before Rayla cleared her throat and spoke

“Well, I don’t think I can go anywhere today, so I’ll just pretend I’m sick”

“Weren’t you gonna help rebuild the dragonguard today?”

“Not like this I am” She grumbled, pointing to her neck.

Callum stilled for a moment. Then, bolting up, he headed towards their closet.

“What are you doing?”

“I have an idea,” Callum said, still inside their closet.

“A stupid one?” Exiting the closet, Callum held out his scarf.

“A brilliant one,”

“Your scarf?”

“You can wrap it around your neck,” Callum said, starting to wrap it around Rayla, ”it’ll hide the marks.”

“Are you sure? I’ve never seen you without it.”

Smiling, Callum gently smooched Rayla’s forehead as he finished wrapping the scarf around her.

“It looks good on you. Plus, I trust you with it.”

“But what’ll you do?”

“I’ll get Soren to bring me an apple breadwich,” Callum said, before an uneasy look appeared on his face, “even if the last thing I want to do today is see his face.”

“Don’t remind me,”

“Anyways, don’t you have some dragonguard training to do?” quickly smooching her, Callum turned her around and led her to the door. Offering one last hug, he waved her off.

“Good luck!”

Rayla turned to leave, but stopped before she could fully cross through the doorway. Turning around, she called out to Callum one last time.

“Cal?”

“Yeah?”

“Love ya,”

“Love ya too Ray.” 

And with that, Rayla turned around, snuggled Callum’s scarf, and made her way onto the day.

…

Problem: Rayla was hungry.

Solution:go to the kitchen.

Problem: Soren is in the kitchen.

Solution: Ignore him.

That was Rayla’s plan as she entered the kitchen to grab an apple before training started. Quick in and out. Soren would barely notice her.

“Holy shit,”

Ok Soren did notice her, that’s alright! He had literally walked in on her having sex with Callum, there was nothing he could do that could phase her.

“You _are_ dating Callum!”

…

_Why._

**Why.**

“WHY?” she screamed, throwing an apple at Soren.

“WE LITERALLY BANGED IN FRONT OF YOU AND YOU BARELY NOTICED! WHAT CHANGED? WHAT MADE YOU REALIZE?”

“Bro, you’re wearing Callum’s scarf!” Soren, who had caught the apple that Rayla threw at him in his mouth, had started to eat it.

“The _scarf!_ Why the _scarf?”_ Rayla felt like she was in a fever dream, and Soren was her personal sleep paralysis demon.

“...He didn’t tell you about his scarf?”

At this, Rayla’s anger and frustration waned. Soren’s tone rarely, if ever, conveyed seriousness. 

Sitting down opposite of him, Rayla paused. She took a deep breath in, then exhaled.

“Soren?” she asked, “what can you tell me about Callum’s scarf?”

There was a long pause, Rayla was just about to speak again, when Soren replied.

“Every year, on his birthday, queen Sarai would give Callum something she made herself as a present,” Pausing, Soren pointed to the scarf and continued, “That scarf was what she gave him before… you know.”

She knew.

“I’ve never seen him go anywhere without it. Either you stole that scarf, which I doubt,” a warm smile had come upon Soren’s face, “ or he really, really loves you.”

Rayla looked down at the scarf in her hands and saw. She saw how the stitches were imperfect, she saw the threads weary from years of use. She saw a scarf that had clearly been a labour of love, and had been used with love. And all that she could think of was one word.

_Oh_

As she walked down to the dragonguard training room.

_Oh_

As Ibis told them about the duties of the dragonguard.

_**Oh** _

When the day was over, and all her duties were done, Rayla came back to their room, to find Callum sketching in his notebook.

Sketching her.

Wearing his scarf.

And all of a sudden, that singular word became a sentence.

_**Oh. I love him.** _

Picking Callum up, she carried him towards their bed and dropped him on it.

Looking back at Rayla, he gave her the softest smile. And when he spoke, another sentence appeared in her mind.

“Hey Rayla.”

_**And he loves me.** _

Looking back on it, Callum and Rayla both agree that their second time was sloppy, clumsy and subpar.

They wouldn’t change it for the world.

(Plus, Soren didn’t interrupt them that time, which alone made it 100 times better than their first.)

…

The next day, if one were to see Rayla and Callum together, they’d have noticed a certain air around them. How they felt more relaxed around each other, how their smiles were brighter, how they had a certain _glow_ to them.

Most people would attribute it to a good night of rest.

Soren was not most people.

Slapping Callum on his back, Soren greeted him with a loud and jovial yell.

_**“What up, Moonfucker?”** _

A week ago, Callum would have been left speechless for ten seconds, then would have replied with a feeble _what?_

However, today, nothing had changed.

“ _What?”_

It occurred to Rayla, at that moment, that she never actually explained to Callum that Soren found out about them.

…

“So you want me to keep your relationship a secret, so that you can figure out how lovey dovey you can be in public before people put together that you’re a couple, in some weird game of relationship chicken?”

“Pretty much!” said Callum. 

“Can’t forget about the gloating in an accent, that’s my favorite part” said Rayla.

“This,” Soren said, bringing his hands together, “is an amazing plan, I want in.”

“Great! just gotta keep this a secret and we should be good!” Callum said, who had taken the liberty to hold Rayla’s hand in front of Soren.

“Oh, don’t you worry! I am an excellent secret keeper! Wink!” Soren, verbally pronouncing wink, closed both his eyes yet again.

“Now I am off to help general Amaya load up the supplies for the trip home, and I won’t tell a word to her!” Soren shot the pair a couple of finger guns, and with that he was off, bumping into numerous walls and crates while continuously finger gunning Rayla and Callum.

“I bet one victory smooch that he’ll tell everyone in 10 minutes.” Callum said, hand in hand with Rayla.

“You have too much faith in him, I say four.”


	2. For Five Katolis Dollars, Amaya will punch you in the face.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Amaya loves her nephews, Janai gets advice on pickup up girls, Gren is the voice of reason, Rayla realizes language is hard, Soren makes some new friends, Ezran becomes a capitalist, and Callum?
> 
> Callum just wants everyone to get along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started out writing this chapter, thinking it would mainly focus on Amaya finding out about their relationship. 20k words later, I realized I might have gotten out of control.
> 
> Oops.
> 
> Anyways, I split the chapter up, so next update should come way sooner, and not with a two weeks wait inbetween.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“We apologize, but you’ll have to wait.”

Seated on a chair outside the throne room, Amaya could only sit and stare as the councillor talked on. Tall and lanky, and sporting a horrific moustache, Amaya didn’t recognize him. He must have been new. There had been a lot of new people in the castle after-

She touched the side of her face, hands feeling the bandages plastered under the corner of her eye. The medics had said she’d have to keep wearing it for a few more weeks. 

Amaya was just about ready to tear it off.

Glancing back at the councillor, she noticed that he had kept talking even when she wasn’t looking at him. He either didn’t know about her condition, or, more likely, didn’t care.

“-the king doesn’t have much time for unimportant meetings, as he is a very busy person-” she glanced down at her hands, and let him talk to no one. 

She shouldn’t be here. She should be back at the breach. Fighting. Standing guard, protecting her soldiers from the evils across the border. The evils, which fought and fought, and spared them no mercy. The evils which would take and take and give nothing in return, the evils, which had taken-

She thought of thunder, and an explosion she could feel deep in her bones. 

Xadia had shown her no mercy. 

Why should she?

Placing a hand on her armrest, Amaya glanced back up towards the councillor, who was still rattling on. 

“-and as you might not know, the king has just lost someone very important to him, and is busy organizing the funeral, and-” the councillor suddenly stopped, directing his gaze towards her hands with a shocked look on his face. 

Looking down, Amaya found her armrest crushed in her hand. 

Rising up from her seat, Amaya gently placed the broken armrest down on the chair, and walked off. She could use a walk right now.

Where Amaya planned to go, she didn’t know. For how long, she didn’t know either. All she knew was that if she stayed in that room any longer, and listened to that councillor prattle on, the king would have to find a new one.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw people whisper to each other as she stomped through the halls. She continued on her march. She knew what people were saying about her.

... _that Amaya?..._

... _hasn’t left the breach in a month..._

... _monster on the battlefield…_

... _fought off ten elves..._

Internally, Amaya shrugged the thoughts out of her mind.

... _wasn’t she Sarai’s…_

Externally, Amaya began to walk faster, and the people around her faded from her mind.

Deep down, a small part of her wanted to blame Harrow. If he hadn’t decided to accept Duren’s request for help, none of this would have happened. Deep down, a part of her _did_ blame Viren. If it weren’t for his dark magic, they wouldn’t have even ventured across the breach.

But deep, deep down, right to her very core, she knew. 

She was the knight called to help the king and queen on their mission. It had been her job to protect her sister, and she had failed. 

And for the rest of her life, she would make sure that she never failed again.

It’s when she had been walking for a good while that she noticed she was being followed. In an unfamiliar and dark part of the castle, one she hadn’t explored yet, movement near the edge of her vision caught her eye.

Turning around, Amaya was ready to confront her stalker, only to find the hallway empty, and no one there. 

Then, all of a sudden, Amaya felt a small tug at the bottom of her armor.

If you asked Amaya, she and Callum weren’t particularly close. She spent most of her time away on missions, and only really ever saw him when she was visiting for holidays and on special occasions. Still, each time he caught a glance at her, his eyes would light up, and he’d quickly run off to bring her his latest piece of art. She was always his favorite critic, and he always had a new piece to show her.

Amaya had been there when he was told the news. She’d been there to see him run out of the throne room.

And when Callum came to her room that night, crying, asking when his mother would come back, Amaya had opened up her arms, and let him sob himself to sleep. 

If Callum noticed her own tears dripping down onto the top of his head, he chose to keep that to himself.

That had all been a month ago, and Amaya hadn’t seen him since. 

So you couldn’t really blame her when she gawked and stared, as she looked down to find a tiny Callum, doodling in his notebook with his tongue stuck out from his mouth. He kept looking back and forth between the notebook and herself, face scrunched up in concentration.

Amaya stood still for a few seconds, mouth agape. 

A few seconds was all that Callum needed.

“Look Amaya!” 

Amaya recalled that it had been Callum’s birthday just a few days ago. She recalled his yearly tradition, how each year, he’d draw a family portrait, and gift it to Sarai with a smile on his face. Those had been the drawings Sarai were the proudest of, always showing them to her whenever she came to visit, and hanging them where everyone could see.

“What do you think?” Callum said, handing her his notebook. 

Silently, Amaya held the notebook in her hands, as her eyes scanned over the page.

On the paper, she could see a small little stick figure family. There was Sarai, with her spear, Harrow, a yellow crown on top of his head, a little baby Ezran, all swaddled up, and Callum, off to the side holding hands with...

Shield at her side, and flexing her arm, there stood Amaya, holding Callum’s hand.

Feeling tiny little hands tug on her armor, Amaya was brought back to reality. 

“Amaya! What’s wrong?” Blinking her eyes, Amaya found them to be wet, “did you not like it?” Callum’s face was filled with worry, as he gazed up to her face,“I-I’ll draw it again! It’ll be better! I-”

Callum stopped as his aunt crouched down, and pulled him into a tight hug. Feeling tears trickle onto his shirt, Callum said nothing, and simply hugged her back. And they stayed that way, just crying, in the dim, dreary hallway in an unknown part of the castle.

Bringing her face up, Amaya wiped her tears away, and with clear, concise, syllables, she mouthed a single, simple, sentence that washed away all of Callum’s fears.

“It’s perfect.”

In the back of her mind, Amaya noticed that it had been half an hour since she’d gone on her walk. Harrow was probably done with his meeting, and she could go talk to him.

Amaya looked down at Callum, and at his smile, which lit up the dark, gloomy, hallway.

“Want me to teach you sign language?” She mouthed at him, signing along as she did so.

“Yeah!” grabbing Amaya’s hand, Callum pulled her along towards the castle library.

Her meeting with Harrow could wait. She had more important matters to attend to.

(And if she showed Callum 16 different swears in sign language, well, that was just between the two of them.)

…

Nearly two months had passed since the huge battle that took place at the foot of the spire, and preparations for the journey back home were taking much longer than planned.

Firstly, they had to gather and pack enough supplies to comfortably make the long trip home. The backup from Duren came on short notice, packing lightly, and Viren’s invading army hadn’t exactly... _planned_ to come back.

Furthermore, while the battle had been an overall success, it was still war, and many lives had been lost. To Ezran, it seemed disrespectful to hastily bury them on foreign soil.

“They deserve a proper burial, at home, surrounded by the people who loved and cared about them.” Ezran explained, looking over the long line of tarped bodies in front of him. No one objected to the small king’s request, and further preparations were made to ensure the bodies got home safe and sound.

And before she knew it, Amaya found herself busy, with no time to chat with either of her nephews. There were always some supplies to jot down, some bodies to wrap up, and some notes she had to write. Soren always had a new breadwich recipe for her to try out, Opeli needed her advice on getting Ezran to do his job, and Janai seemed to always take her away to argue about whether a sword was a better weapon than a shield. 

Whenever she finally found herself having just 15 minutes of free time, she’d always find out that Callum was preoccupied with elf stuff (whatever that meant), or that Ezran would be busy getting things ready for their long trip home.

And so life went on, a routine had been set, and two months had passed with no real time to sit down with her nephews and talk.

...

“Hey,” Ezran signed, eyes drooping from exhaustion, “have time to chat?”

Amaya had been getting ready for bed, when she noticed the faint light coming from underneath her door. Opening it up, she found a weary Ezran, bags under his eyes, holding a glowing Bait in one of his hands.

Minutes later, Ezran was resting his head face up on Amaya’s lap, a snoring Bait sleeping by her side.

“Everyone’s been feeling grumpy lately,” he signed. Breaths even, he let the stress of the day melt away,“they’re all cranky, like they’ve just woken up, but constantly.” 

“Ezran that’s called being tired.” Amaya signed, coursing one hand through his curly hair, “Everyone just needs to take a break. Stop working. Talk. Relax. Like We’re doing.”

“How am I going to get everyone to do that?”

At Ezran’s reply, Amaya just raised an eyebrow, and shot him a look.

“You’re a king, aren’t you?”

Ezran’s eyes widened, as if this was news to him. 

He was a king, wasn’t he?...

...

The next day, while everyone was gathered in the dining hall, Ezran had an announcement to make.

“Attention everyone!” Ezran was standing high on a table, hitting a glass with his spoon, “I have noticed that everyone here has been working hard to prepare for our journey home. Despite our new surroundings, we have been productive. I order you to stop.”

The many human soldiers, of which most were from Duren, all turned to look at their queen, Aanya. 

Sitting at the table next to Ezran, she just offered a shrug. Ezran had an idea. Who was she to stop him?

“Now I know what you might be thinking, _But king Ezran! How will we ever get anything done if we don’t constantly work every hour of the day?_ Stop. Please stop. None of you have taken a break in two months. All off you have bags under your eyes. Someone got stabbed over a breadwich yesterday. Twice.” Looks were thrown around in the crowd as everyone recalled _the breadwich incident._

Gazing on to the crowd, Ezran lowered his arms and Amaya handed him a scroll. Unraveling it in front of the masses, Ezran cleared his throat, and began to speak once again.

“By Royal order, I decree that starting from tomorrow, a week of rest shall take place,” dissent spread through the crowd, “it is compulsory. Anyone found working will be gathered, and forced to spar with general Amaya.” The dissents stopped. All eyes shifted to Amaya, who was next to the king, and almost as tall as him even with the former standing on a table.

She gave a little wave.

Unanimously, the crowd decided that following the orders would be a good idea.

Glancing down at the sea of uneasy faces, Ezran gave a small, reassuring, smile. “In addition, a feast shall be held in the dining hall, to commemorate all the work that’s been done, and to give people time to relax, chat, and mingle.”

Slowly, the crowd started to warm up. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Queen Zubeia has also agreed to give us access to her large vault full of various alcohols-”

Ezran was immediately drowned out by a wave of cheers and shouts. Stepping down from the table, he turned and faced Amaya.

“They seem to be taking it well.” She signed, a warm grin on her face.

“Thanks for the help,” Ezran signed back. Looking over the cheering crowd, he seemed to be searching for someone, before realization dawned on his face.

“I think Callum said he was going to be busy learning more about elves today. I need to go tell him and R-”a large hand came down on his shoulder, and stopped him mid sentence.

Looking up, he found Amaya signing to him, “You go talk to the crowd. I’ve got it covered.”

And with that, Amaya left the hall in a confident stride, heading towards Callum’s bedroom. A small chat with Callum had been long overdue, and she wasn’t planning on putting it off any longer.

…

Amaya, being Deaf, couldn’t exactly tell when people told her to come in when she knocked on their door. Instead, her knock was distinct, loud, and unique, and anyone who had heard it before knew exactly who stood there on the other side, and that they would only stop when the door opened.

_Tock-tock, Tock-tock._

A few moments passed, before a sweaty and nervous Callum opened his bedroom door. Clad in a black, wrinkled, t-shirt, along with a pair of pyjama shorts, he looked as if he had just gotten out of bed.

Looking inside, Amaya noticed that his scarf and jacket lay crumpled on his bed, and that it looked as if his sheets had been thrown off. Glancing back at Callum, she took note of his messy appearance.

“I’m not interrupting something, am I?” she signed, raising an eyebrow at him.

Callum fumbled with his hands, before quickly signing back, “You’re not interrupting anything! What would there be to interrupt?” Turning around, Callum motioned to his empty bedroom, “As you can obviously see, I am alone here. With nothing to do.”

Amaya, who had spent most of her time in the army in camps full of men, knew exactly what you could alone, with ‘nothing’ to do.

She’d rather not think about it.

Shaking her head, Amaya stepped inside, and continued on with her original objective.

“There’s gonna be a feast tomorrow.” Amaya signed, “It’s a break. To relax,” Amaya stopped and pondered for a bit, before continuing, “Think of it as a family dinner.”

Amaya had been expecting questions to pop up. When was it happening? Where are we going to sit? Will there be alcohol? Was Ezran legally allowed to drink? Preparing herself, Amaya was ready for any question thrown her way.

“Did you tell Rayla yet?”

Amaya had not been prepared. Mainly because her mind drew a blank at the name. She knew she had heard it somewhere before, but a face just wasn’t coming to her. 

At his aunt's blank stare, Callum sighed, and quickly signed something else.

“Moonshadow elf”

Oh.

_Oh._

In the back of her mind, Amaya knew that Callum and the Moonshadow girl had been friends. Callum had introduced the two of them, they exchanged short pleasantries, and Amaya had immediately placed her at the back of her mind, in a box she labeled, “ _enemy of my enemy who is also my enemy but is now my friend”_. She had seen the two talk, and had seem them together around the spire. She had known they were friends.

She just didn’t know they were _close_ friends. She thought that they just, you know, talked, exchanged pleasantries, maybe shared a joke or two. You know, elf friends! Like her and Janai. She wouldn’t invite Janai to a family dinner.

Would she?

Shaking her head, Amaya stopped that train of thoughts before it could grow wings, and fly off. “I didn’t know you two were so close.”

Walking over to his bed, Callum sat down on the edge and turned to face Amaya.

“Me and Rayla spent a long time traveling across Xadia together. She’s…” Callum looked down at his lap, “She’s my best friend.”

Huh, guess Callum had a best (elf) friend now. She’d have to go tell Rayla about the feast tomorrow. Rayla. You know, Moonshadow elf? Sent to kill Ezran and Harrow? 

The one she punched in the face? The one who kidnapped the two princes on a boat?

She must have shown how uncomfortable she was with the situation on her face, because soon, Callum was signing to her again.

“Do you have a problem with Rayla?” Amaya could’ve sworn she felt the room grow cold, as if a cold breeze had just flown in.

While Amaya didn’t have a problem with Rayla, it would be lying to say that she was completely ok with her as well.

“Callum,” she signed, crouching down to face him level, “you have to understand. She’s a moonshadow assasin-”

“Rayla, is a hero.” 

Now on his two feet, Callum seemed to tower above Amaya’s crouched figure. “Yes, she was raised as an assassin.Yes, she was sent to kill Ezran. But you know what? When she was faced with the choice to kill Ezran? She didn’t.” 

Callum’s eyes were intense and electric, and he continued on with his rant, “Instead, she chose to go against the only family she’s ever known, help me and Ez get Zym back to his mother, and end the war.” 

“Rayla is kind, smart, funny, Rayla is a hero.” Callum touched his wrist, “and I know for a fact that she’d rather lose an arm than hurt a hair on Ezran’s head.”

The air was thick and tense, as for a few seconds, Callum just stood there, breathing heavily. Slowly, he turned around to his bed, and took a seat. Gone was the spark in his eyes, instead replaced by a melancholic blue, that chilled her to the bones. 

“I know that, Ez knows that, so why can’t you?”

Callum’s head hung low as he came down from his rant. For a moment, nothing happened, and Callum simply assumed that Amaya had left the room.

Feeling the bed bend to his right, a warm hand came to rest on Callum’s shoulder.

“Sometimes-,” Amaya signed, a sad smile on her face, “Sometimes people have trouble letting go of the notions they’ve held all their life. They’re taught to think a certain way from a young age, and when something happens that challenges that thinking, they simply choose to cover their eyes, and to not see.”

Amaya stopped, as if she was carefully choosing her next words.

“I do not know Rayla. The only time I’ve ever interacted with her I punched her in the face, and in turn, she took my only two nephews away from me.”

Amaya turned, and looked Callum straight in his eyes.

“I don’t know Rayla, but I’d like to. I’d like to talk to her more, get to know her better.” One of Amaya’s hands came to gently rub Callum’s back, “It’ll just take...time. Can you give us that?”

Callum’s eyes had lost their melancholic tinge, and he turned to Amaya, and offered her a soft smile. That was all the confirmation Amaya needed.

“Hug?” She signed, and Callum, respecting the longtime tradition of hugs, happily obliged.

Letting Callum go with a smile on her face, Amaya rose from the bed, grabbed Callum’s jacket and scarf, and headed towards the closet.

A small tug at the back of her armor stopped her, and she turned around.

Callum had begun to sweat again, and his hands were choppy and fast.

“What are you doing?” he signed.

“Putting away your stuff,” she replied, before raising an eyebrow, “you weren’t going to sleep with them, were you?”

“Amaya, you don’t have to do that! I can put away my own stuff.” Callum was sweating buckets, while throwing quick glances towards his closet door.

“It’s quite fine. You seemed tired, thought I’d help.” Amaya began to walk towards the closet again, only to be stopped by two arms grabbing her shoulders.

“Don’t go into the closet!” Amaya noted that Callum had reverted back to speaking instead of signing. He only usually did that when company was around. 

Huh, guess he must be _really_ tired.

“Why not?” she asked, head tilted inquisitively. 

“...You might get stuck in there.”

Amaya paused for a moment, before she placed a hand on his head, and ruffled Callum’s hair.

“Callum, I’ve been trapped in the closet for the first twenty years of my life.” she signed, face showing an amused smile, “If I got stuck in again, I would simply break out.”

Although their conversation had been short, it had been just enough time for Rayla to sneak out of the closet, and slowly inch her way towards the exit. 

Turning around, Amaya found the closet door open.

“Was that always open?” 

Coming into her view, Callum turned her towards the closet, and away from the room's door. “Oh you know, elven doors. Always opening like magic!” he signed, eyes focused elsewhere.

Tossing his jacket and scarf in, Amaya closed the closet door and faced Callum. She’d have to ask Janai about elven doors. Maybe she knew why they always opened?

Rayla, who was the reason why elven doors were always opening, was just about to reach the bedroom door when it loudly flung open.

Soren, despite literally walking in on them having sex, still hadn’t learned to knock.

“What up, Lunosexual! Hey Rayla!”

The sound of the door banging open caused Callum to turn his head towards the door in shock, and Callum turning his head towards the door in shock caused Amaya to follow suit as well.

In the threshold, Amaya saw Soren, who was acting as if she was a bear, and he was a hiker, trying to make his body appear as large and intimidating as possible.

“Hey general Amaya!”Soren said, hands held high in the air,“What are you up to in Callum’s room? Which is solely inhabited by Callum, and no one else.”If Amaya could hear, she would’ve heard the audible sound of a hand hitting a forehead, followed by a tired groan come from behind Soren.

However, she couldn’t hear, so Amaya just smiled at Soren and signed. “Nothing much, just making sure Callum got the memo about the feast tomorrow. You’ve heard of it, right?”

“You bet I did! Ezran’s giving me the chance to try out my new breadwich recipe. Imagine this. A breadwich, but with two apples! I call it, Dabple breadwhich.” Suddenly straightening up, as if someone had loudly cleared their throat behind him, Soren turned his head around, closed both his eyes, and mouthed something she couldn’t quite catch.

“Anyways, I gotta work on my new recipes. See you guys tomorrow!” And with that, Soren moonwalked into the hallway, and closed the door.

Looking outside the window, Amaya noticed the sun setting on the horizon.

“It’s probably time I head to bed as well,” Amaya said, and pulled Callum in for one final hug, “talk to you more at the feast?”

“You will invite Rayla, right?” Callum signed, a playful smile on his face.

Taking another glance out the window, she watched the sun dip lower and lower in the sky. She probably had a good 15 minutes before it became dark.

Plenty enough time to give Rayla a visit.

“You know what? I’ll do that right now. Where’s her room?”

 _“_ **RAYLA’S ROOM,** which you, **AMAYA,** are **HEADING TOWARDS,** ” once again, Callum had switched to spoken word, “is at the end of the living quarters on the left side.”Glancing at the door, Callum continued.

“And I sure hope no one **STALLS** you, **AMAYA,** from **GETTING TO RAYLA’S ROOM,** in a **HURRY.”** Callum shouted the last part at the door, as if he was talking to someone on the other side. 

“You don’t have to shout Callum,” Amaya signed, turning towards the door, “I can’t hear you either way.”

_…_

As soon as she left the room, Amaya was immediately cornered by a rather enthusiastic Soren.

“Hey Amaya!” Soren signed, hands messy and stiff, “me and a few other soldiers were searching the battlefield for any spare weapons, when I found this cool coin pouch!” Reaching into his back pocket, Soren pulled out a small coin bag, which looked like it had only 3 coins in it. 

“The coins even have little elf faces on them, how cool is that?”

Amaya glanced at Soren, who had begun to take out the three coins, then glanced towards where she knew Rayla’s room was located.

Soren was called a slut by every elf in the spire. That hadn’t come out of nowhere, right? Surely he at least knew how to talk to them.

“Soren, how do you get an elf you punched in the face to like you?” she signed to him.

Soren paused, stuffed his cool coin bag back into his pocket, and turned to face Amaya with an excited grin on his face.

“So there’s a few things to keep in mind,” Soren said, guiding Amaya away from Rayla’s room, “one, it’s very rude to touch their horns…”

…

By the time Amaya arrived in front of Rayla’s door, five minutes had already passed by. It turns out that Soren had a lot to say about elf etiquette and culture.

Knocking on Rayla’s door, Amaya was surprised to see it immediately swing open. On the other side of the threshold stood a sweaty, out of breath Rayla, who looked as if she had just sprinted across the entire spire.

Amaya wondered if she had, once again, come at a bad time.

Pushing those thoughts out of her head, Amaya waved her a short hello, before starting to sign.

“There’s going to be a feast tomorrow. You are welcome to come. I will not touch your horns.”

Looking at Amaya, Rayla offered her a confused stare, before signing back.

At least, Amaya thought she was signing. She could notice a clear pattern and method with what Rayla was doing with her hands. She just couldn’t understand it at all.

She rephrased her previous sentence, only for Rayla’s confused face to deepen. 

Again, Rayla signed back to her. Again, Amaya didn’t understand.

It was after their fifth round of this weird back and forth, that Amaya came to a realization.

Elves had been separated from humans for thousands of years. Their Sign language was probably a bit different.

When someone couldn’t understand Sign language, Amaya usually motioned for them to wait, before running off to grab the closest interpreter, which was usually Gren. 

However, it had been a long day, and Amaya was tired. She had a lot on her mind, and she really wanted to leave a good impression on Rayla. You could excuse her if she didn’t think about the easy, obvious solution, and instead went with the one she would use on Ezran, when he was two years old, and still had trouble pronouncing her name correctly.

Charades.

Amaya pointed to herself, then at Rayla. She mimed swallowing something, before pointing behind her.

“ _I invite you to a feast tomorrow”_

Rayla looked alarmed, before copying her movements, clearly showing understanding of what Amaya had just said.

_“I want to devour you outside the spire?”_

Amaya smiled, nodding her head. Miming eating a chicken leg, she placed both her hands on her belly and laughed, pointing at Rayla.

“ _Yes, eating with you will be a good time.”_

Rayla understood her completely.

_“I will eat you alive, and laugh at your death.”_

Taking Rayla’s frantic gestures as a yes, Amaya moved her face in, before stopping to think about the situation.

Although Soren did say that elves kissed each other as a show of good nature, it would still be pretty weird for Amaya to kiss someone half her age. She didn’t want to seem rude though…

Compromising, Amaya pressed her fingers to her lips, and gently tapped Rayla on her pale cheek.

Giving one last smile, she turned around and shut the door.

Nailed it.

Walking through the halls, Amaya looked out a window, and took note of the night sky. It had turned dark, but the moon had barely begun rising. She probably had a good ten minutes before people would ask her to stop stomping the halls, and just go to sleep.

Her mind wandered towards Rayla and Callum. Something about them seemed, familiare. Like she’d seen them before, in a memory long buried in the back of her mind. But where? She was certain she would’ve remembered if Callum had an elven, girl, friend before.

Shaking those thoughts out from her head, she glanced around, and noticed she was fairly close to Janai’s room.

Come to think of it, if Callum was inviting his elf friend to dinner tomorrow…

Why couldn’t she?

…

_Tock-tock, Tock-tock._

Janai was startled awake by a loud, rhythmic, sound, echoing through her room. Looking around for a moment, she found nothing out of place, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to suggest someone had snuck into her room in the middle of the night in order to kill her.

Placing her head back on her pillow, Janai closed her eyes once again. Maybe she’d been imagining things-

_Tock-tock,Tock-tock_

Eyes shot open, Janai whipped her head towards her bedroom door. Silence swept through the room. She waited.

It came again.

_Tock-tock,Tock-tock,Tock-tock._

“Go away!”

For a long moment, nothing happened. Slowly, Janai turned around, and pulled her covers up. She closed her eyes and-

_**TOCK TOCK TOCK TOCK TOCK TOCK-** _

Shooting out of her bed, Janai stomped over towards the banging door. Which bumbling idiot thought it’d be a good idea to create such a racket in the middle of the night? 

Throwing the door open, Janai came face to face with her own reflection.

Gaze rising from the shiny, metal, breastplate, she came face to face with general Amaya, who was just about ready to knock again. Clad in full metal armor, she looked ready to enter battle at any given moment.

Janai glanced down at her own shirt, and came face to face with a cartoonish looking adoraburr. Below it, the phrase _I’m Adoraburrl!_ had been printed out in shiny, glittering, letters.

It had been a gift! From her sister! And she definitely didn’t think it looked cute. 

Shut up.

“What,” Janai growled, trying to keep the blush from showing on her face, “do you want?”

Gazing up at her face with a smile, like knocking on doors in the middle of the night was a completely normal occurrence for her, Amaya started to sign.

Oh right.

Cupping Amaya’s face in her hands, Janai gazed directly into Amaya’s eyes.

“Wait right here.”

Amaya simply nodded, cheeks still squished by Janai’s warm hands.

Stepping out of her room and into the hallway, Janai came back two minutes later with a sleepy Kazi in tow, who was holding a teddy banther. 

_Oh yeah,_ Amaya thought, _probably should’ve done that with Rayla._

“There’s a feast held tomorrow.” Amaya signed as Kazi interpreted. 

“I’m aware,” Janai replied, arms crossed and eyes droopy, “Me and what’s left of the Lux Aurean army were present at king Ezran’s announcement. We were invited.” While Janai had no issues with her troops having a bit of rest, she honestly couldn’t care less about frivolous parties. She’d probably spend the time in the training room, working on her stances and-

“I’d like for you to accompany me.”

What.

_What_

_**What?** _

Turning to face Kazi she shot them an incredulous stare.

“She said,” They repeated, “I’d like for you to accompany m-”

“I know what she said!” Janai exclaimed, causing a ruckus in the middle of the night, “What does she _mean?”_

“Well,” Kazi replied, turning away from Amaya and inadvertently blocking her view of their mouth, “humans usually ask someone out for dinner as a first step in their courting ritual. To establish that they have romantic feelings for one another”

Janai turned to face Amaya, who had a pleasant grin plastered on her face. The air around her face grew warm.

“S-She’s joking right? This is revenge for me saying that oatmeal cookies weren’t real cookies, isn’t it?”

Kazi relayed the message to Amaya.

Shooting her a soft smile, Amaya cupped her face, and gently caressed Janai’s lips with her own. Unlike Rayla, Amaya had no problem kissing Janai to show how good of a friend she was.

“I’m serious. See you tomorrow.” And with that final message sent, Amaya left with a skip in her step, excited to spend time with her nephews, Rayla, and her good elf friend Janai.

A few feet away from Janai, Kazi could feel the heat radiating off from her boss. 

“W-What just happened?” Janai asked, face a burning red.

“I believe general Amaya asked you out on a date.” Kazi replied. Letting out a yawn, they started walking towards their room. Janai and general Amaya. Janaya. It had a nice ring to it.

Standing there in silence, Janai slowly turned around, and let herself back into her room. Flopping onto the bed, she pressed her face into the pillow, and screamed.

A date with general Amaya…

Needless to say, Janai didn’t go back to sleep that night. Neither did anyone in the neighboring rooms.

…

In the middle of the night, Callum was woken up by an incessant knocking at his door. Expecting only one person this late at night, he opened it and was greeted by a frantic Rayla.

“Hey Ray, how’d the talk with Amaya go?” While he knew it was too much for them to become instant friends, he hoped that they’d at least become a bit clos-

“Does your aunt have a vore fetish?”

“... _what?_ ”

Needless to say, Callum did not go back to sleep that night.

…

Early next morning, Amaya was in the dragonguard training room, doing her daily set of push ups. Sitting off to the side was Gren, nursing a freshly brewed cup of strawberry green tea.

Gingerly taking sips, a shadow passed over him and Gren turned towards the newcomer. A groggy and nervous Janai was gazing down on him, looking as if she was trying to figure out how to say hello.

“Hello!” Gren said, giving her a little wave. “I take it you want to talk to Amaya.” Janai and Amaya argued a lot, mostly about childish things, such as who had the better weapon, and what constituted a cookie.

He didn’t mind interpreting for their constant debates, as he found their interactions amusing. Besides, Janai would probably already know how to sign when they got close enough to actually dat-

“Amaya asked me out on a date last night.” Janai blurted out.

Gren took a good long sip of his tea.

Janai took that as a sign to continue. “She walked up to my room in the middle of the night, knocked on it really loudly, then asked me out on a date.”

“Yup,” Gren said, laying his cup down on the table, “that sounds like Amaya all right.”

Leave it to Amaya to skip 50 steps ahead and go straight to dating.

Janai looked as if she was about to have an aneurysm. “What do I do?”

Gren looked over Janai, then turned his head towards Amaya, who had begun to push herself off the ground, and sign the letters of her name midair.

“Honestly? Just be yourself.” If Amaya had already asked her out on a date, she was already doing something right.

Janai glanced over to Amaya, who had begun alternating the hands she signed with.

“That’s a horrible idea,” Janai said, as Gren started to brew another cup, “no one wants you to be yourself, they want you to be like your older sister, who is a ruler, and is better than you in every possible way.”

“Then I’m all out of ideas,” Gren said, holding the fresh cup of tea and gently blowing on it, “although I can recommend you a good therapist to sort your issues.”

Slouching, Janai took a seat across from Gren, and held her head in her hands.

“Just help me.” she mumbled, sinking lower and lower into her chair.

Gren pondered for a moment, before pushing the cup of steep black tea towards Janai.

“How hard are your abs?”

…

It was time for the feast, and all that Amaya could do was stare at Janai’s bare abs.

Amaya, in a suit of full armor, was walking alongside Janai, who was wearing a crop top, which looked like it could’ve been a regular shirt, but with it’s bottom ripped off.

Very high fashion.

And Janai had _very_ hard abs.

Entering the large, festive, dining hall, Amaya shook her head and focused. She had a mission to do.

Sit down, and have a talk with Callum.

Glancing around the giant hall, she spotted him near the end of the room, sandwiched between Ezran and Rayla. Callum was busy teaching Rayla what appeared to be Katolis Sign language, while next to him, Ezran was deep in a fourway conversation with queen Aanya, Zym, and Bait.

Bingo.

Striding through the hall, Amaya was unaware of the whispers surrounding her. 

_Holy shit is that general Amaya?_

_I heard she fought off ten sunfire elves and won!_

_I heard she caught a sunforged blade with her bare hands!_

_Why is general Janai wearing a crop top?_

Janai, who was well aware of the gossip surrounding her and her date, was trying her hardest not to spontaneously combust.

Unaware of her partner's predicament, Amaya walked up to Callum and Rayla, and waited to the side.

“So generally, words like vore don’t have a specific sign for them. You just have to spell them out,” he brought up his hands, “start with V, O, R- Amaya!”

Quickly hiding his hands behind his back, Callum turned to her and gave her an innocent smile.

Rayla looked at her with fear in her eyes.

“Hey Rayla,” she signed, giving her a small wave, “mind if I talk to Callum for a bit?”

“She’s asking if she can talk to me!” Callum interpreted, as he patted Rayla’s shoulders.

“S-Sure general Amaya, let me just head on out and talk with…” Rayla scanned the room searching for a familiar face. Her eyes landed on Janai, who was squirming in place.

She’ll do.

“Janai!” Rayla said, giving up her seat for general Amaya.

“Wha-” Janai doesn’t have time to protest. Grabbing the Sunfire general by the hand, Rayla dragged her over to the drink bar.

Taking Rayla’s seat, Amaya turned to her eldest nephew.

“So,” she signed, picking up a mug of beer “heard you’re a mage now.”

And at seeing the bright smile grow on Callum’s face, the one on hers grew larger as well.

... 

“Sooo… Why the long face?”

Rayla, sporting a cup of moonberry cider, was mingling around the drinks bar, trying to strike up a conversation with Janai, who was hunched over at the bar, and looking like a kicked cat.

Those are like a kicked puppy, but angrier.

Janai, nursing a glass of Sunfire whisky, frowned into her drink.

“I don’t get why she wanted to talk to the human that much. She thinks he’s soooo special, with his sky magic and scarf. I have sun magic! And I could get a scarf!

Janai might have been a little tipsy. Just a little. She also might have had some issues. Maybe she’d take Gren up on that therapist?

Rayla glanced back at Callum and Amaya. He had started to show her the different runes he knew for sky magic, while she watched on with rapt attention.

“You know,” Rayla said, eyes still focused on the pair, “Amaya is the human’s, Callum’s, Aunt”

Janai paused at this. This was news to her.

“They were pretty close growing up. Callum always told me that she took a lot of time away from the breach to visit him, and always brought the best oatmeal cookies with her when she did. she always told the best stories at night, and when he woke up in the morning, he’d smell the best breakfast in the world wafting up from the kitchen.” 

Turning around, she faced Janai, “they just love each other, a whole lot, and want to spend time together. They’ve barely talked these past two months after all.” 

Janai looked over to Amaya, who was trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter as Callum signed her a joke, and a small smile crept onto her face.

At least, she thought it was small. Because of her inebriated state, it came off as a large, dopey, grin.

And Rayla _noticed._

“Oh my god you love her!” Rayla said, jumping up and down as she punched Janai’s shoulder repeatedly.

“What?” It was hard to decide whether her flush face was due to being drunk, or embarrassed. Probably a mix of both.

Rayla sing-songed at her, head tilting back and forth with each word, “you gotta crush on her!” She might have also been a little tipsy.

Just a little.

Janai groaned into her cup, before gulping it down. Seated on a stool, she slouched over the bar top.

And suddenly, Rayla got a very bright idea.

“You know, humans love to be picked up,” Rayla said, taking a seat besides her.

Turning to face Rayla, Janai tried to keep the interest off of her face.

“Oh?” She was not doing a very good job.

A coy smile grew on Rayla’s face. “Yup! They just love being carried. Makes them feel safe and secure.”

Janai thought of Amaya. She thought of her large muscular arms, her powerful thighs, her bright smile. And while she hadn’t seen her abs yet, she would take a good guess that they were as hard, if not harder than her own. She imagined all that in a shining suit of armor, which probably weighed as much, if not more than the swaying Rayla seated besides her.

“Do you know how to lift someone up?”

…

“So then I just threw it at her!” Callum, now on his second cup of moonberry on the beach, was feeling a slight buzz.

“And she forgave you?” Amaya, who had at this point drunk a full barrel of sunwheat beer, was ready for another.

“Hey! I’ll have you know, Rayla’s a very forgiving person!”

“She must be if she’s still friends with you!”

Callum stuck his tongue at her, and she proceeded to ruffle his hair. Standing up to grab another barrel, she paused when a huge shadow loomed over her.

“Excuse me,”

Towering above the group, a huge Sunfire warrior was looking down on Amaya, fists clenched.

All around the table, conversation sizzled to a stop. Ezran was holding onto bait closely, who was glowing a deep red. Zym looked ready to tackle the intruder, Aanya kept a cold, serious glare on the elf, and Callum tensed up, ready for action.

“Are you general Amaya?”

Looking up at the towering elf, down from her seat, Amaya gave a curt nod, and smirked.

An opposing smirk grew on the intruder's face.

Taking a seat opposite to them, he slammed his elbow onto the table. 

“May I arm wrestle you?”

Immediately, tensions dropped, and Callum could feel himself let out a long breath he didn’t know he was holding. Amaya was a living legend back in Katolis, people would often come up to her in public, challenging her to feats of strength. It never really bothered her, and eventually, Callum grew used to Amaya's constant stream of competitors.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Amaya signed a quick “Sure,” and Callum moved to interpret.

“She says yes-”

“For one dollar!” It was Ezran who interrupted him, slamming down both his hands onto the table. Ezran, who was nursing a cup of apple juice. Ezran, who was not drunk.

Ezran, who was just like this. All the time. 

“Ezran!” shouted Callum, shooting him a scandalized glare.

“You’re weak, Ezzy.” Aanya said, holding a glass of grape juice. 

Callum shot her an appreciative smile.

Looking the stranger in the eye, she downed her whole glass in one gulp, slamming the empty cup onto the table.

“Make it five.”

The smile fell from his face, hit the ground, and exploded on impact in a fiery blaze of destruction.

 _Great,_ Callum thought, _there’s two of them._

…

Five elvish coins lighter, the tall elf readied himself, as Amaya grasped his hand, preparing to change her title from “Katolis wide Arm Wrestling Champion” to “Continent Wide Arm Wrestling Champion”

A crowd had formed around them, eager to see just how strong the mythical general Amaya was.

The air was thick with silence. Standing up on the table, Aanya raised one arm above her head. 

Everyone waited.

With one swift motion, she brought it down.

“Begin!”

No one budged. At least, it seemed that way. If you looked closely, you could see that the tall Sunfire elf’s hand slightly trembled. His breath was growing heavy, and his face was slowly turning red. 

Amaya remained impassive, drumming her other hand on the table.

Orange cracks were forming on the elfs skin, and slowly, the air around him began to burn. 

Small gasps rang throughout the crowd.

Amaya, cool as a cucumber, raised her other hand to her mouth, and yawned.

Murmurs began to spread across the audience. Amaya felt pain, didn’t she? Didn’t she?

Amaya, whose hand was in _so_ much pain, was also known throughout Katolis for her legendary poker face.

After a minute, the Sunfire elf exhausted himself, and Amaya slowly pushed his hand down, as if she was playing with a child.

Cheers and applause roared from the crowd, as all the onlookers took in what they just saw. For a full minute, general Amaya had endured the strength and heat of an awakened Sunfire soldier.

No, not endured.

_Conquered._

While the cheering went on, Callum quietly casted a small _Aspiro Frigis_ onto Amaya’s burnt hand.

“Please don’t do that again.” he signed, blowing the cool air onto his aunt’s hand.

“No promises,” she signed back, a cocky smile on her face.

…

“Come one come all! Test your might against the Mighty Amaya! See if you have what it takes to best the Shield of the Breach! Just Five dollars a try!” Standing up on the table and walking on it, Aanya cupped her hands to her mouth and advertised to the crowd.

Around the table, a crowd had formed up, with a line reaching all the way across the room attached to its middle.

“I want to try!”

“Me next!”

“Let me have a go!”

:”I want her to punch my face!”

Ignoring all the shouts and yells, Callum turned to Ezran. 

“Ez, is this really wise?” Callum looked down at this brother, who was quickly taking in the various coins shoved his way.

“Relax Callum,” Ezran said, still taking in coins, “we got this under control! Everyone just needs to chill out and get to know each other. And what better way to do so than arm wrestling?” He gestured towards the masses which, Callum hated to admit, looked happy and joyful.

“Ok, it makes them happy. I can accept that,” Callum gestured to the large pile of coins that had quickly grown behind Ezran, “five dollars a try?”

Jumping down from the table, Aanya began to sort through the growing pile, and replied,“it’s for a good cause! For every five coins we get, we're putting one aside for the families of the fallen soldiers!”

“Ok,” Callum could see where this was going, “and the rest of them?”

At this, Ezran and Aanya turned away from his stare.

“We’re splitting them up…” Ezran mumbled, looking at anywhere but his brother’s face.

“You’re both royalty! What do you even need money for?”

“Callum, money isn’t about needing it,” Aanya said, sorting the coins into large stacks, “money is a game.” Aanya looked up at Callum, fire in her eyes, “and I’m _winning_ it.”

Dragging his hands down his face, Callum closed his eyes, counted to ten, and let out a long breath. Opening them back up again, he took in the chaos around the room.

Amaya was busy challenging two people at once, one with each arm, while Kazi was next to her, giving her sips from a large barrel of beer they could hardly hold, as Amaya kept slamming down hands one after another. Gren could be seen walking up and down the queue while twirling a sign, directing people to line up, while Soren and Barius were busy supplying people in the line with Dabple breadwiches, jelly tarts, and drinks.

From her corner of the feast, queen Zubeia looked down upon the spectacle, and smiled.

“It’s nice to see humans and elves get along so well,” she said in her deep, booming, voice.

Slinking back down into his chair, Callum downed his drink, and groaned.

…

Exiting a 15 minute long conversation with Janai about carrying humans, Rayla turned towards her table, only to find a long line of people extending from it.

Walking up to the line, Gren, who happened to be making his rounds, noticed her confusion and decided to help.

“They’re at the front of the line. Can’t miss them.” Gren said, before spinning his sign once again.

Confused, but not seeing a reason to distrust Gren, Rayla ventured to the front of line, grabbing a glass of moonberry cider from Barius along the way.

Reaching the front of the line, Rayla was greeted with the sight of Amaya arm wrestling five soldiers at once, two of which were human, and three of which were Sunfire elves. This was of course with one hand only. The other hand held a jug of beer, which was constantly being refilled by Kazi.

Looking around, she saw Ezran and queen Aanya atop a pile of coins, sorting through it, while Zym and Bait swam around in it. At the side of the pile, seated at the table, she could see Callum, (Her boyfriend!) with his face in his hands, while Soren sat next to him, happily munched an a dabple meat lettuce breadwich deluxe, now with double the meat!

Swaggering along to Callum (Her _boyfriend_ ) Rayla slapped him on his back, and gave him a toothy grin.

“What up dumb prince?”

Callum just groaned, sinking further into his chair. 

“Don’t mind him,” said Soren, in between bites of his breadwich, “he’s just sad that Ezran’s become a capitalist.” Pausing in between bites, Soren reached down into his pockets and pulled out a bag of coins. “Hey, would you mind challenging Amaya for me? I would do so myself, but I’m two coins short.” Soren held out the coin bag to Rayla, jingling it.

Rayla was about to grab the coin bag, when a loud commotion interrupted her. Coming from the line, it seemed like someone was pushing their way through, and by the looks of it, people were letting them pass.

Bursting out of the crowd like a drunk Moses taking a stroll through the red sea, Janai swayed and staggered her way towards the table.

“I want to hold your hand!” Janai’s voice was loud and slurred, “And beat it!”

Amaya looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. Getting into position, Amaya beckoned her over with a curl of her finger.

Ezran moved to collect from the drunken general, but Amaya blocked him with her arm.

“This one’s personal,” she signed, a fiery glint in her eyes.

Moving into position, Janai held Amaya’s hand, and Amaya held Janai’s in her own.

The crowd grew silent. This was sure to be the match of the century.

Raising her hand above her head, Aanya held it there, relishing in the thick tension in the room.

Then, she let it drop.

“Begin!”

Immediately, they came to an impasse. Like two bulls locked together in battle, the general vs the general, the unstoppable force vs the immovable object, the shield of the Breach vs the sunforged sword, battling it out, to see who would reign victorious.

Janai let out a giggle, “your hands are soft…”

Amaya felt her face turn red.

_Holy shit is Amaya sweating?_

_Just how strong is Janai?_

“Your face is really pretty…like...a rock…a pretty rock.”

Amaya brought up her other hand, and hid her face in it.

_Is her arm trembling? Hoooooly shit. Holy shit!_

_Is this happening is this really happening?_

“Your hands are warm…I like holding them…they feel...nice…”

And with that, Janai was out cold. Gently pushing her hand to the table, Amaya leant back on her chair, and groaned.

Mass cheers could be heard, but not for Amaya. Taking their fallen hero into their hands, they crowd surfed her towards an empty chair, where they let her rest, and recover from her exhaustion. Only pride for her was felt that day. After all, not anyone could go toe to toe with _the_ Amaya, and make her sweat while doing so.

The crowd was silent, not quite sure what to make of this situation after what had just happened. Suddenly, slow clapping started. Growing louder and louder, it eventually evolved into a full standing ovation. Who were they clapping for? No one knew. Why were they clapping? No one knew either. Who had started the clapping?

It had been Soren, who had been trying to catch a fly in between his hands. Other’s joined him, thinking he was clapping, and by the time Soren realized he had started a standing ovation, he was too embarrassed to stop.

Laying his head on the table, Callum wished he was a Moonshadow elf, and that it was the night of the full moon, so that he could just disappear. Turning around to Rayla, he pointed at her drink.

“You gonna finish that?”

“It’s got my spit in it.”

Wordlessly, Callum grabbed the cup and gulped it down. It was going to be a long night.

Shooting Callum and Rayla a sideways glance, Amaya felt a warm sensation flow through her at the young human and elf pair. They reminded her of something, someone. 

She just didn’t know what yet.

…

“Did you see me? I held hands with Amaya for a full _minute!”_ Janai, who was being carried on the back of Amaya, was speaking to, you guessed it, Amaya.

Amaya could only nod in response, a faint blush adorning her cheeks.

“Her hands were sooooooo big! I just wanted to kiss them!”

“That’s nice Janai,” said Gren, who was dragging a passed out Kazi with one arm, and interpreting with the other, “maybe you _should_ kiss them next time.”

Amaya tripped over air, and Janai just giggled.

A smooth silence settled between the four, the only sounds being the footsteps of Amaya, the giggles of Janai, and Kazi being dragged across the floor.

“You know,” signed Amaya, turning to look at Gren, “I’m really starting to like that Moonshadow girl, Rayla.”

“Oh?” Gren said and signed at the same time.

“Yeah, it’s nice that he has someone like her in his life. It’s nice that they can put behind generations of hate and war, and just be friends.” She shot a glance at Janai, “kinda like me and Janai are.”

Gren, watching Janai snuggle in closer to Amaya’s neck, wondered if she knew just _how_ similar they were.

“Yeah, Rayla’s been a nice influence in Callum’s life. I’m glad he’s meeting more people his age.” Gren replied.

“RAYLA!” Janai blurted out, stirring at her new friend's name, “Is...is a good person! She gives good advice! Like how…to lift heavy stuff up! And how to carry... humans!”

“Yeah,” Amaya was grinning, reading the interpretations Gren was giving her, “Rayla’s a good friend.”

“Look! There she is! Walking into Callum’s room!”

Janai was promptly dropped to the floor, and she passed out.

_**WHAT!** _

Looking ahead, she could see a giggly Callum and Rayla, hand in hand, as they walked into Callum’s room and closed the door behind them.

They…

They were…

They’re gonna…

Marching up to the room, Amaya was about to slam open the door, when Gren stepped in front of her.

“Hey woah woah woah! Let’s not be too hasty! Is it really that big a deal that two teenagers are going into the same room at night?” Gren really did not want to deal with the fallout of Amaya walking in on Callum and Rayla.

“Gren,” Amaya signed, stern look on her face, “they’re drunk. That’s Callum’s bedroom. Nothing good comes out of going to bed with your friend when you're drunk. Now step aside before they ruin their friendship, or I’m entering straight through you.”

A single thought filtered through Gren’s mind. 

_Good lord she still doesn’t know._

Before Amaya could grab him, and push him aside, Gren continued..

“Think of it this way,” Gren said, sweat dripping down his face, “they’re probably not doing anything. And if they were, would you really want to see that?”

Amaya thought about it for a moment, “No,” she signed, “I wouldn’t want to see that.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

“I’m gonna get Soren to see it.”

_“What?”_

…

They found Soren in the kitchen, playing with his three new friends. 

“Hey guys!” he said, holding up the three coins for them to see, “ I named them! This one’s Kyle, this one’s Martha , and this one,” Soren held up a particularly grumpy looking coin, “is Runaan!” He looked down at the coin,”I don’t know why I named it that, It just fit.” 

“Soren, I need you to go into Callum’s room.” Amaya signed to him.

Looking down at his coins, Soren began to fiddle with them, looking at anywhere but Amaya’s face.

“I cannot do that.”

“Why not?” Asked Janai, who was now sporting a bruised head.

“I do not know where their room is.”

“Oh, ok. Sorry I asked.”

“It’s cool.”

“Wait,” Amaya signed, interrupting them, “did you say _their_ room?”

Shit.

“There, as in they are. They are room.”

Walking up to Soren, Amaya began pointing at him. “You know something.”

“I know nothing my brain is filled with no cohesive thoughts.”

Pointing straight into his chest, Soren was certain Amaya was gonna kill him. “You know something, and you can either tell it to me here right now, or I can drag you with me and you can say it directly in _**their**_ room.”

Soren looked around uncomfortably, before a sad look came upon his face. Letting out a sigh, he looked Amaya directly in the eye.

“Callum and Rayla are sharing a bed,”

“ I Knew it!”

“because of nightmares!”

Amaya pauses at this. “What?”

Walking towards the table, Soren took a seat, placing the three coins down on the table. All eyes zeroed in on his serious face.

“Look, they’ve been through a lot these past couple months. Callum just lost his father, and Rayla...nearly killed herself trying to save Zym. They’ve gone through war, stared it in the face,” Soren picked up one of the coins in his hand, “lost people they’ve cared about. Honestly? I wouldn’t blame them for having trouble sleeping at night.”

He was staring directly into Amaya’s eyes now. Looking straight into her soul.

“And if them cuddling together keeps their nightmares at bay, I can’t judge them. I _won’t_ judge them.”

Now, despite common belief, Soren was a great liar. He could tell tall tales, spread white lies, weave fibs as if they were an absolute truth, as if they were holy words god had sent to his prophets.

Soren hated it. He hated lying, and he hated how it made him feel. He hated how his heart ached with each truth he smeared, and he hated the hollow feeling it left inside him.

He hated how each time, with each lie he spread, he felt himself become more and more like his father.

But, if lying ensured that Callum and Rayla’s secret was kept for just a day longer, if it allowed them _one_ moment, of peace and sanctuary?

Soren would tell a thousand lies, and he would weave words like a man chosen by god himself.

And honestly, the only reason Gren knew that Soren was lying was because he was certain that Cayla (what he had taken to calling Callum and Rayla’s relationship) was a thing, and that he knew how good of a liar Soren could be, under the right circumstances.

But the other two?

Janai was staring at Soren in shock, and Amaya?

Amaya recalled.

She recalled how it had been after their mother had left them, how night after night, she would trudge to her sister’s bedroom, stuffed banther in hand, and silently ask for refuge. And how night after night, Sarai never turned her away, and instead welcomed her in with open arms.

She recalled the stories her sister would tell her in bed, of daring knights saving the princesses from evil dragons, and how each story ended with a happy ending, the knight getting a kiss from the princess. 

She recalled how night after night, her dreams would be filled with her slaying the dragon, saving the princess, and gently caressing her lips, before she would wake up and find herself tucked in bed, with the smell of breakfast wafting from downstairs.

Despite her turmoulus childhood, her dreams were full of love and wonder, and she never realized why, until 25 years later, when she awoke in a cold sweat, turned to her sister, only to find no one there.

And for the first time in her life, Amaya cried herself to sleep, with the horrifying realization that she would never get to hear the happy ending again.

A soft hand to her cheek broke her out of the past, and with a few watery blinks, she realized she had started crying. Following the hand to its owner, she found Janai, who was gently cupping her face, and wiping away her tears.

“It’s ok.” She spoke, her words clear and soft on her lips. And gently, ever so gently, she pulled Amaya close, and let her cry into her shoulder.

And for the first time in a very long time, Amaya let herself cry into another person’s shoulder, as she drifted off to sleep.

…

In a strange turn of events, it ended up being Janai, Gren, and a newly awoken and grumpy Kazi who carried a sleeping Amaya to her room, instead of the other way around. 

Arriving at the door, Janai nudged Amaya awake. “We’re here.” 

A soft blow to her face was the only response she got.

“You have to go to sleep now.” Opening the door, Janai dragged Amaya to her bed and laid her down. She’d be sleeping in her armor, but considering everything that had happened, she didn’t think Amaya would mind that much.

Turning around to leave, she was stopped by a gentle, yet firm tug on her arm. Looking back, Amaya’s eyes were wide open, and although she couldn’t understand Katolis Sign language yet, she understood what Amaya was saying perfectly.

“Stay.”

And so, Janai crawled onto the bed, snuggled close to Amaya, and let herself fall asleep.

Looking on at their interaction, Gren was proud with how everything had turned out. It wouldn’t be long before they realized that the love they had was mutual, and Gren planned to support them every step of the-

“You too Gren.”

I’m sorry _**what?**_

“And Kazi too.”

And that was how Gren found himself cramped onto a bed with three other people, playing third wheel to the two people cuddling next to him.

Kazi looked over towards the cuddling pair, then to him. “You do realize what is going on right?”

“Yes”

“And you’re ok with it?”

Lifting his head up, he faced Kazi.

“I’ve known Amaya for a long while now, and while she is extremely cunning and smart, she is also denser than her own shield.” Turning away, he closed his eyes, and tried not to think about how close Amaya and Janai were pressing into each other, “it’s best to just let these things happen, and offer advice only when asked.”

“But-”

“I’ve tried to help. Trust me, it ends up worse.”

…

Amaya woke up to the sleeping face of Janai.

Cuddling together, Amaya was still in her full suit of armor, while Janai still had her fashionable crop top on. Sitting up in bed, to her left she saw a sleeping Gren. On the floor, she could make out Kazi, who looked as if they had rolled off the bed in the middle of the night.

Thinking back, Amaya tried to recall what exactly had happened in order to find herself in this exact situation. There had been a feast, someone had challenged her to an arm wrestling match, she may have drank two barrels of beer, and Janai…

Janai had been drunk. _Very_ drunk.

And despite Amaya’s high alcohol tolerance, she might have been feeling a bit tipsy as well.

Careful not to wake anyone up, Amaya got out of bed, and crept her way towards the door.

Stepping outside, she took one last glance at Janai.

Nothing good ever came out of sharing a bed with your friend when drunk.

Closing the door, Amaya hoped she hadn’t ruined anything.

And as she walked towards the kitchen, Amaya pushed the small part of her that hoped she _did_ ruin things, deep, deep, down.


End file.
